Thursday, October 31, 2013

Upper
Marlboro, MD…Sheriff
Melvin C. High and the Office of the Sheriff hosted Governor Martin O’Malley
and County Executive Rushern Baker to announce the results of the Violent
Offender Warrant Suppression (VOWS) operation that resulted in 596 arrests to
dispose of more than 1,000 outstanding warrants. The three-month warrant sweep
was funded by a $125,660 grant from the Governor’s Office on Crime Control and
Prevention (GOCCP) to arrest violent crime offenders.

The Governor praised
the outstanding results of the operation, saying that Prince George’s County
alone accounts for much of the state’s reduction in crime. On the matter of
public safety O’Malley said, “There is no more important work that we do. If we
can’t do this, none of the other stuff matters much.” Consistent with the
O’Malley Administration’s core strategy, the GOCCP grant targeted violent crime
offenders who represent the greatest danger to the community.

Sheriff High said the Governor’s assistance
gave the warrant squad a boost because the grant’s focus on violent crime
offenders was consistent with the first priority of the Sheriff’s warrant
strategy - to get the most dangerous offenders off the streets.

The final results of
the operation were 596 arrests to dispose of 1,128 total warrants, including
murder, rape, robbery, burglary and drug offenses. Twenty-six of the arrests
were for domestic violence related crimes and the Warrant Division placed 160
detainers against offenders found in other jurisdictions.

Recalling taking office, Sheriff High
said. “We’ve been at this work of the Sheriff’s Office for three years now and
we originally laid out a strategic plan with three elements that still work:
Priority focus on violent offenders and staying current on newly issued
warrants that come in at a rate of 2,000-2,500 a month. Doing those two things
helps us do the third, which is to chip away at the warrant backlog.” A
‘warrants maintained’ chart on display at the press conference showed that the
warrant backlog is down over 11,000 warrants since Sheriff High took office in
2010.

The Sheriff also thanked the Warrant
Division – investigators and deputies – saying, “The work is dangerous. It
requires a lot of knocking on a lot of doors and you simply don’t always know
what’s behind the door.”

In closing, Sheriff High called public
safety a collaborative effort of interdependent agencies. “That has been the
County Executive’s vision and I’ve been heartened to see it realized over the
last three years,” he said. “There is no substitute for partnerships that work
to the benefit of citizen safety and this effort has proven that fact once
again.”

State’s Attorney Alsobrooks, Chief Magaw
and Chief Mike Gonnella, President of the Police Chiefs of Prince George’s
County spoke about the importance of working together to make the community
safer and crime reduction.

Delegate Joseph F. Vallario Jr., Chair of
the House Judiciary Committee, Clerk of the Court Bland and Chair of the County
Council Public Safety & Fiscal Management Committee Toles also attended.

For more information contact the Communications
and Public Affairs Division at 301-780-7354.